GRAHAM Thorpe today gave England a major lift ahead of next week's second Test against Australia after specialists gave him the go-ahead to resume training.

The Surrey left-hander has been sidelined since straining his right calf at the start of the Triangular one-day series five weeks ago and was given a seven-day programme of rest and anti-inflammatory medication in an attempt to put him in contention for next week's second meeting with Australia.

But after visiting a specialist in London yesterday, he was finally given permission to begin training again and after coming through his first net session in over a month yesterday, he plans to train with Surrey at Lord's this afternoon - although he has ruled himself out of tomorrow's Benson and Hedges Cup final against Gloucestershire.

"I had 30 minutes on the bowling machine and it felt fine," Thorpe told Channel 4's web-site cricket4.com. "Now I have to build it up by batting on it and running between the wickets.

"I'm hopeful it'll be okay for next week, but I have to test it out properly.

"Once I've done that the decision whether to take a risk on me comes down to someone else - they'll have to decide if they think it's worth taking a gamble on playing me without any match practice.

"I have had a lack of match practice but there is nothing we can do about that.

"I wanted to play in the Lord's final, but I can't go into a game like that having only had one or two nets. That wouldn't be fair on Surrey or England.

"I have to get in as much practice between now and next Thursday. I could play in a second team game of a club match but they will not recreate the situation I'll be going into next week.

"With match practice it's as much about getting your mind right as the body."

England's selectors are due to meet this weekend to choose the squad for next week's Test and Thorpe's imminent recovery is bound to affect their thinking with captain Nasser Hussain (broken finger) and Michael Vaughan (calf) already ruled out.

"I want to play next week," added Thorpe, who averaged 71 in Test cricket this year before sustaining the injury.

"The Lord's Test against Australia is the big one, but I've got to put the calf under as much stress as possible because if I suffer another setback then further investigations on it will have to take place."